White Collar and Corporate Investigations
Practice Leader: Thomas M. Gallagher
Federal and state prosecutors and regulatory agencies continue to intensify their scrutiny of all types of corporate conduct. Criminal and civil penalties for a wide array of violations have been toughened, and prosecutors have been armed with new tools to persuade companies under investigation to cooperate – or else.
In this environment, corporate clients need counsel with significant government investigations experience and superior trial skills. Pepper Hamilton LLP’s white collar and corporate investigations team includes seasoned former federal and state prosecutors and former Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority enforcement lawyers. This team works seamlessly to represent clients facing criminal or civil investigations, regulatory enforcement and civil litigation, which often proceeds on parallel tracks.
We are experienced in defending clients in all areas of criminal, civil and regulatory enforcement; including health care, securities, government procurement, antitrust, environmental and other businesses facing scrutiny. Our white collar and corporate investigations practice is centered in three areas: white collar defense, corporate investigations, and corporate compliance.
White Collar Defense
We represent clients facing investigation or prosecution by state and federal authorities, including the U.S. Attorneys’ offices, State Attorneys General and Congressional oversight committees. We have defended clients in high-profile investigations by the SEC, DOJ Antitrust division, FDA, CMS, the Office of Human Research Protections and state departments of health, as well as state Medicaid Fraud Control Units and other agencies in sensitive criminal and civil investigations. We represent companies and individuals named as targets, subjects or fact witnesses in federal and state grand jury investigations and prosecutions. Our broad and deep experience in the representation of clients facing parallel civil and criminal investigations results in a well-coordinated team of specialists able to defend clients on all fronts.
Corporate Investigations
We conduct internal investigations for our clients. We counsel clients long before government action, including regulatory counseling on industry risk areas. Pepper has successfully negotiated declination of prosecutions, based on thorough investigations that address the government’s concerns. Pepper knows how prosecutors, investigators and regulators approach industry-specific legal and regulatory issues, which informs our judgment and ability to effectively investigate on behalf of our clients.
Corporate Compliance
Whether wrongdoing is suspected or not, all businesses in today’s legal environment need effective compliance programs that set the standards the organization and its employees must meet, and monitors the company’s efforts to do so. We are experienced in designing and implementing effective internal compliance programs in a variety of industries and jurisdictions. Such programs are designed to fit specific regulatory or industry standards (such as health care or antitrust), and include training tools to help educate employees, and audit procedures to help measure compliance.
AREAS OF FOCUS
Health Care and Pharmaceutical
Health care providers and pharmaceutical and medical device companies increasingly are targeted by the Department of Justice, the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, individual U.S. Attorney’s Offices, and state attorneys general and Medicaid fraud control units, all seeking to enforce a wide range of fraud and abuse laws, such as the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Act, Medicare and Medicaid regulations, the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Prescription Drug Marketing Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and health care fraud.
We represent clients facing investigation and prosecution by state and federal authorities, including the, U.S. Attorneys’ offices, state Attorneys General and Congressional oversight committees. Our broad and deep industry experience is the cornerstone of our white collar defense and corporate investigation practice in the health care and pharmaceutical space. Representative engagements include:
- major pharmaceutical companies facing government investigations
- internal investigations for major pharmaceutical companies regarding the conduct of clinical trials, sales and marketing practices, pricing and other issues
- hospitals facing criminal, civil and regulatory investigations by multiple federal and state agencies.
Securities Corporations and corporate employees increasingly are scrutinized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, self-regulatory organizations such as FINRA, the U.S. Department of Justice and state agencies regarding compliance with securities laws. We are experienced in counseling and defending clients at every stage of these matters – from the informal inquiry stage, through the investigation and the “Wells” process, at trial or hearing, and on appeal. Our team includes many veterans of the SEC, including a former branch chief in the Division of Enforcement.
We have guided clients through investigations and litigation involving allegations of insider trading, improper revenue recognition and other types of financial fraud, market manipulation, mutual fund market timing and late trading, improper sales practices, excessive markups and advisory fees, inadequate supervision of securities professionals and accounting irregularities by corporate executives.
Representative engagements include:
- defended a diversified holding company and its chairman in three-year SEC investigation
- obtained defense verdict on behalf of former CFO in trial against claims of accounting fraud brought by the SEC
- represented Animas Corporation in a FINRA and SEC inquiry into potential insider trading; no charges filed.
Corporate Fraud The Department of Justice Corporate Fraud Task Force was constituted to attack all types of alleged fraud in the corporate world after high-profile prosecutions of Enron, WorldCom and other entities. Our former federal prosecutors bring their significant government experience to bear on these complex investigations with corporate death penalty potential.
Representative engagements include:
- pharmaceutical company facing federal and state parallel investigations
- government contractors facing government fraud investigations and qui tam complaints
- represented a Department of Defense contractor in a congressional investigation conducted by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- a food manufacturer in a criminal and regulatory investigation of environmental issues involving federal, state and county authorities.
Antitrust We represent companies, and, often, their officers and directors, in civil and criminal antitrust matters in federal and state courts and before various agencies. We deal often with the investigative and enforcement staff of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the offices of state attorneys general nationwide. Our practice in this area includes matters involving the Sherman and Clayton Acts, the Robinson-Patman Act and state antitrust laws, as well as civil RICO claims, consumer protection statutes, franchise laws and a range of other antitrust, trade regulation, and competition statutes and regulations.
Representative engagements include:
- multiple clients in price fixing investigations
- clients facing allegations of collusive activity in the financial industry.
Tax We are engaged in representing business entities facing government scrutiny related to tax fraud and non-compliance. Pepper conducts internal investigations of our clients’ business practice and defends against complex civil and criminal IRS investigations.
Representative engagements include:
- a nonprofit corporation in an IRS criminal investigation
- individuals being investigated and prosecuted for tax fraud and related allegations.
